The Abyss
by Nemorian
Summary: When Edwinna, the head of the Ald-Ruhn Mages' Guild, goes missing, Nem and Trelana go to investigate the tomb she vanished at. When the same thing happens to them, it's up to an assassin, conjuror, depressed genius and inept healer to find the truth.
1. Missing

"Nem... wake up." Trelana said softly, prodding him in the side with her finger.

He rolled over, pulling the blankets over his head. "Come back later... too tired." Nem mumbled, now almost face-down on the pillow.

"You've been asleep for almost ten hours, you should be ready to wake up by now. Besides, this is important." She said seriously.

"Two more hours for an even dozen... then I'll worry about things." Nem muttered from beneath the covers. Obviously the seriousness didn't matter to him at the moment.

"Nem, please! People have gone missing!" She said, her tone slipping from serious to panicked.

There was a moment of silence, and Nem slowly sat up. "Gone missing... like what happened in Balmora a while back? The last thing Vvardenfell, or any part of Morrowind needs, is another incident like that." He said, shaking his head. "Glad I stayed away from Balmora while that was going on."

"No, it's not like that. It's just a tomb. Everyone that went there has gone missing." She explained.

He stared at her briefly, then began rubbing his right eye. "You're drifting to the Horrors of Balmora again. I recall a similar situation with a certain cave. Are you sure-"

"It's not the same!" Trelana insisted, slamming her fists on the bed. "There was a lot more going on back then. This is just people vanishing, no dead bodies have turned up."

"Give it time, I'm sure they will." He replied with a yawn.

"Then we have to find out what is going on NOW!" She yelled, startling him so much he fell off the bed.

Nem groaned, casting a healing spell on his head where it had met the floor. "Why are you so worried about it? Did someone you know go missing?"

"Someone we both know..."

He looked up at her, finally starting to get concerned. "Who?"

"Edwinna."

Nem stared at her with a blank expression. "Edwinna... has gone missing?"

Trelana nodded.

"And I care, why?" He asked, getting back into bed. "With the way she treats me, I think the guild will be an improvement with her gone."

"But... if she's not found... you'll never know why she had such a grudge against you!"

He shrugged. "I can live with that."

"The Mages' Guild will suffer a great loss with her gone! All her studies of the Dwemer..."

"Someone else can pick up where she left off."

"We... we could end up having someone like Trebonius replace her!"

Nem choked on this thought, bolting upright in bed. "Okay, you've convinced me. I'll help you investigate." He said as he got up, taking his robe that was laying atop the dresser near the bed. "Right after breakfast. You can tell me what's going on while I eat."

--

Nem looked up at the sky as they walked down the road, checking for cliff racers. "I still find it hard to believe."

"That Edwinna's whole team went missing?" Trelana wondered.

"Well, not that so much. After all the crap I've been through here, something like that isn't too surprising." He said, crossing his arms. "I'm just shocked Edwinna actually left the guild for a job. I thought she never left the place."

"She's left a few times... don't you remember?"

"I recall once, back when you and Schimmel first met, she left with everyone else to fight off some corpus beasts. That's all."

"You really don't pay attention, do you?" Trelana asked, shaking her head.

"When it comes to Edwinna, as long as she's not giving me hell, I couldn't care less about where she is."

A screech came from overhead, and they both instinctively threw fireball spells into the air. The screeching was promptly cut off by two explosions and a heavy thump behind them as the cliff racer hit the ground.

"So where is this tomb, anyway?" Nem inquired.

"Not far. We just turn left at the curve up ahead and climb over a couple of hills."

"Left? The road goes right..."

"Yes, there's a little... climbing involved to get there." Trelana said. "Steep ledges and such."

Nem sighed. "How do people manage to find these places?"

--

Three hills, five falls and a dozen crispy cliff racers later, they arrived at the tomb where Edwinna's team had vanished. Nem pushed open the door, the dank smell of dust and decay seeping out. It certainly didn't smell like an unusual tomb. Trelana followed him inside closely, peering over his shoulder nervously.

"There's nothing moving." Nem stated, shaking his head and wondering why he didn't find someone else to come with them since Trelana wouldn't be much help if they ran into any undead.

They ventured deeper into the tomb, not finding a trace of of life... or death... or anything. The place was eerily still, even for a tomb. Nem pushed open the fourth door they had come to, taking a sudden step back and bumping into Trelana at the sound of a clang.

There was a grind of metal echoing down the hall before them, along with a consistent clanging like the first one they had heard. Nem and Trelana glanced at each other for a moment, before starting down the hallway. Shortly before the door at the other end, there was a large hole in the wall overlooking a large room that appeared to be part of a previously undiscovered Dwemer Ruin.

"I think it's pretty obvious why Edwinna didn't come back." Nem sighed. "She didn't vanish, she climbed into these ruins to investigate and just hasn't come out. You know how she can be."

"But... but the first reports we got of this place didn't say anything about a Dwemer Ruin. It was about a strange skull, that's what Edwinna came to see." Trelana reminded him.

"I haven't seen any skulls."

"It's probably deeper in... come on." She pushed him forward, past the entrance to the ruins. "If we don't find it in the tomb, we can look in the ruin."

:"Fine." Nem quickened his pace, shoving open the door to make the search go faster. After seeing the ruin, he was convinced they wouldn't find anything in the tomb. The next room split into two paths, one straight ahead and another to the right. "I'll take that way, you look in the other." Nem said, walking over to the door across from them. "If you do run into a bonewalker or something, just yell. The place seems pretty empty to me though."

Trelana opened her mouth to object, but Nem had already gone through the door and left her behind. She took a deep breath, gripping her staff tightly in both hands and moving toward the other door.

--

Nem passed by a few urns lining the halls, still finding nothing out of the ordinary. He opened the door at the end of the urn-filled room... to find a couple ash pits with offerings placed along them. He rolled his eyes, thinking this was the most boring tomb he had ever explored, when Trelana screaming suddenly reached his ears.

He turned and bolted back down the hall, already knowing she had to be hurt. He had adventured with Trelana, and heard her scream often enough at this point, that he could tell one from another. This one wasn't fear or anger... it was agony.

He bashed open the door Trelana had taken, his eyes coming to rest on an empty room. At least, that's what he thought at first. He hadn't been looking for a skull, but that's what he found. It was floating above an ash pit, with a faint white glow surrounding it.

Nem stepped into the room, removing his dagger from the small sheath strapped to his left forearm and pointing it at the skull, just in case it was some new kind of undead summoning. He glanced around the room, but didn't see a trace of Trelana anywhere.

When it became obvious the skull wasn't moving, he returned his dagger to its hiding place, going to inspect the odd piece of skeleton. He waved his hand over, under and around it, but couldn't find anything holding it in place. It had to be a levitation spell of some kind. He crouched down, peering into one of the eye sockets. It almost looked like something was stuck inside it, near the back. He hesitated for a moment, then began to reach for it. His finger brushed the side of the empty socket and it felt like it latched onto his hand.

A crushing feeling suddenly shot through his body and he screamed in pain. He dropped to his knees, still screaming. It felt as if he was being torn apart from the inside out. With a sudden jerk, everything went black, and he was left with the feeling that he was plummeting through darkness.


	2. Treasure Hunters

Barbarius laughed, raising his glass into the air and slapping Schimmel on the back with his free hand. "That was the best one yet!" He proclaimed, referring to their last 'treasure hunt', which mostly consisted of slaughtering smugglers and taking their goods. It had been like that since they started. Though Ruby had told them of rumors going around... apparently the trio was making quite a name for themselves in the eyes of outlaws across Vvardenfell. The thought that they would rush into one of their bases was beginning to weigh more heavily on smugglers minds than Imperial troops storming in.

They made a decent team. Barbarius handled any locks and traps they came across. Schimmel, though a bit clumsy normally, was not to be underestimated in a fight, as he took down a majority of smugglers that got in the way. Ruby was talented in both fields, having been an trained as an assassin, though her speciality of late seemed to be gathering information. She was always finding rumors about smuggling operations and the like neither of them took the time to look for.

"Schimmel! Barbarius!" Ruby shouted, charging into the Eight Plates. Everyone inside turned to her, and she glared back at the strangers. "I said Schimmel and Barbarius, not every idiot in the place." She snapped, walking over to the table her group was at and sitting down next to Schimmel.

"Something wrong?" Schimmel inquired.

"That's putting it lightly." She said, grabbing Schimmel's glass and taking a drink.

He complained, but she ignored him.

"You know Edwinna Elbert, right? Breton, in charge of the Ald-Ruhn Mages' Guild, Nem complained about her being evil a lot." She said quickly, not giving either of them a chance to answer. "Well, she went missing three days ago on a trip to some tomb outside town. Not sure why she was going to a place like that in the first place, but from what I've heard, she was obsessed with Dwemer Ruins. My guess is there's some kind of connection between that tomb and the Dwemer, or at least, she thought there might be."

"And this involves us... how? We're treasure hunters, not Guildmaster hunters. Er... not anymore, at least." Barbarius corrected himself quickly, his mind drifting to Jiub and Parven for a moment.

"Apparently Nem and Trelana went to investigate early yesterday, and they haven't been heard from since. Now do you see why it involves us?"

Schimmel nodded. "Yeah. We should go after them... they could be in trouble."

"It's only been a day... they could just be enjoying some time to themselves." Barbarius suggested.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "What're you talking about, now?"

"You know..." Barbarius smirked.

"Are you kidding?" Schimmel shook his head. "After that time he wandered off somewhere with Ajira for three days? I'd say they just make a good team, if it was more than that, she'd have been furious about that incident."

"True... but maybe they're both in denial about what they think of each other, like you t-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Ruby interrupted, standing up and grabbing both them by the wrist, dragging them out of the Eight Plates. "You gossiping fools can talk later, we have people to find."

---

Ruby did her job well, nobody could deny that. Not two minutes after the trio had arrived in Ald-Ruhn, she had already found out where Edwinna and the others had vanished, and written down very detailed directions before Schimmel and Barbarius had even walked from the teleporter to the guild's main hall. They got no chance to talk to anyone, since Ruby promptly dragged them out when she caught sight of them.

They found the tomb easily, even though it was a bit out of the way. Schimmel led the way inside, sword at the ready. If a guildmaster and team of mages could all go missing in the place, it couldn't be safe. They advanced slowly, not finding anything until they heard an odd grinding coming from up ahead. The source was easy to find, since the large hole in the wall was impossible to miss.

"Looks like you were right about the Dwemer Ruins, Ruby." Schimmel said, peering inside. There was no sign of movement, or sounds apart from the old machinery still somehow running.

"Told you." Ruby said, smirking. "Edwinna's Dwemer crazy... it's no wonder she hasn't reported back."

"Maybe, but that doesn't explain why nobody else has. She went with a team, right? One should have sent word back while the others investigated." Schimmel pointed out.

"Er..." Ruby stared, surprised she hadn't thought of the same thing.

Barbarius scratched his head "And if Nem had found her, he would have come right back. You know how well they get on. If they were both in there for too long together, these ruins would probably be in... er... worse ruins."

"Okay, so what do you think happened, you know-it-alls?" She said shortly, getting frustrated. She was supposed to be the brains of the operation, after all...

"They could be trapped somewhere... or worse..." Barbarius suggested. "Either way, I think we should at least finish with the tomb before we try the ruins."

"If Edwinna saw this, she'd be in there and have forgotten all about the tomb. Why bother with it?" Schimmel wondered.

Barbarius sighed. "Fine, I'll check whatever's left... just wait here. I'll be right back." He said, walking through the door deeper into the tomb.

Schimmel shook his head, turning to the hole and thinking Barbarius was just wasting his time. He scanned the Dwemer ruin, looking for anything that might try and sneak up on them while they were waiting.

Ruby had the same idea, but took a less patient approach. She hopped through the hole and began searching through the room on the other side, not listening to Schimmel when he said it was probably better to wait for Barbarius so he could check for traps.

As she advanced further in, Schimmel started to go after her, muttering something about a complete lack of patience, when he heard Barbarius cry out from deeper in the tomb. Schimmel moved on reflex, turning away from the ruin and running through the doorway that Barbarius had taken. The next room had two doors, one ahead and another to the right. The right one was open, a bright light coming from the other side but quickly fading as Schimmel approached.

He dashed into the room, not getting much chance to look around before he stepped on something that rolled underfoot and made him fall forward. He grabbed for something instinctively, his fingers hooking into two round holes. There was a sudden, searing pain that started at his fingertips and quickly shot through the rest of his body. He glanced up at what he had grabbed and saw a glowing skull hovering in the air, his fingers grasping the bottom of the eye sockets. He screamed, the pain worsening. It felt like he was being pulled in two different directions... like something was ripping him apart.

Ruby had run out of the ruins right away, having heard Barbarius yell as well. She arrived in the room just as Schimmel began to scream. Looking from him to the skull in horror, she dove for Schimmel, grabbing him around the waist and trying to pull him away from it with all her might. His hand held tight. Tighter than humanly possible she thought, considering only two of his fingertips were barely inside the skull's empty sockets. She gave another hard yank, and fell backwards when a blinding light surrounded Schimmel.

The screaming faded, followed shortly by the light. When Ruby's eyes began to come into focus, she saw no sign of Schimmel anywhere. Apart from the skull, the room was empty. She unsteadily stood up, trying to understand what the hell had just happened. She took a step forward and heard a clatter. There was a lockpick laying at her feet, probably one that belonged to Barbarius. It looked in too good of condition to have been in the tomb long. She glanced at the skull, thinking. Both of her partners were gone because of the thing. She started toward the skull. She had no idea what it did, but if it was some kind of teleportation spell...

"Well, well..." A voice from the doorway behind her said. "...it seems we've found a graverobber to deal with."


	3. Reinforcements

The Altmer scratched his head, peering through the hole in the wall. "I know I heard a voice."

"That's putting it lightly... it was a scream." The Breton behind him muttered nervously. "Do I really need to be here? I mean, Glen could-"

"You're here, deal with it, and help me figure out where-"

Another scream caught their attention. The Altmer started toward the doorway deeper into the tomb but hesitated when he noticed the Breton wasn't following. He was just muttering things to himself about it being Balmora all over again. The Altmer rolled his eyes, grabbing his cowardly companion by the collar of his robe and dragging him along.

The voice faded, but they were able to figure out which of the next rooms it had been coming from. When they arrived, they found a Breton woman with her back to them, her attention focused on something across the room.

The Altmer smirked. "Well, well... it seems we've found a graverobber to deal with."

The woman jumped in surprise, spinning to face them and removing a dagger from her belt as she did. Her eyes stopped on the Altmer for a moment and she sighed, returning the dagger to her side. "Damn it, Moss. Don't scare me like that, I could have killed you."

Mossanon smiled. "I think you have more control than that, Ruby. You're a professional, after all. We trust you to think before you strike, right Miles?" The Altmer looked over his shoulder.

His companion was on the ground, having dove to the side when Ruby reacted, obviously not as confident about her restraint. "Yeah... right..." He muttered, his voice shaken.

Ruby crossed her arms. "Why are you two here? Were you following me?"

"Come now, do I look like Ganus?" Mossanon said with a shrug. "I'm simply here on Jiub's orders to find Trelana."

"He already heard about that? News travels fast." She mumbled to herself. "Is it just the two of you?"

Miles got up, brushing the dust from his brown robe. "Glen would have come, but Mossanon insisted we could handle it ourselves." He gave the Altmer an annoyed glance.

Mossanon ignored him. "Where are Schimmel and Barbarius? We heard someone cry out on our way in, was it one of them?"

"Both of them..." Ruby stepped to the side so Mossanon could get a clear view of the glowing skull hovering on the other side of the room. "...Schimmel touched that, screamed and vanished. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened to Barbarius."

"Hmm." Mossanon approached the skull, slowly circled it once, pausing a couple times as he went and stopped in front of it, bending over to peer in the empty eye sockets. "There's a very strong enchantment on it, but I'm not sure what exactly. It's nothing to do with Conjuration, I can tell you that much."

Miles walked over to it, crouching down and staring intently at the glow surrounding it. Something about it was familiar, but he couldn't figure out what.

"It looks like there's something inside, but if just touching it triggers the enchantment I don't dare try fishing it out. I've heard of teleportation enchantments similar to this, if that's what it is, used as traps by daedra and such." Mossanon scratched his head, thinking. "There's no telling where you could end up... a cavern of daedroth, the bottom of the Sea of Ghosts, above a lake of magma... it's never anywhere pleasant."

"You're telling me Schimmel and Barbarius could be in a lot of trouble or dead?! Damn it!" Ruby rushed over, pushing Mossanon out of the way and reaching for the skull. "I have to help them before-"

"NO!" Miles leapt from where he was crouched, taking Ruby by surprise and tackling her to the ground. "It's a deathtrap, it must be! It's too much like before!" He yelled, his arms wrapped firmly around her waist.

"What the hell are you doing?! Get off!" Ruby shouted, but Miles didn't budge.

"Wait, what are you talking about, Miles? You've seen this before?" Mossanon asked.

"Y-yeah." Miles muttered, his voice shaking. "In Balmora. There were these enchanted weapons... one made you see things, another made anyone that touched it burst into flames... a lot of people died. I don't want to see that again."

"Could this have been made by..."

"No, it couldn't be the same person."

Mossanon raised an eyebrow. "How can you be sure?"

"Because I... I killed the person that made them." Miles said, releasing Ruby and moving over to lean against the wall. He looked a little sick at the memory. "He may have been evil, but he's still the first... the only person I've ever..."

Mossanon nodded, remembering Miles' stance on violence and killing. The kid was a healer for a reason."Okay, Miles... so if the person who made that enchantment isn't on the list, who else could make it?"

"I don't know." The Breton mumbled, staring at the ground. He thought it over, Ruby and Mossanon both looking at the skull until he spoke again. "Master might know."

"Master...?" Ruby wondered, glancing at Mossanon who shook his head.

"Not me, he means Razelus."

"Oh... good luck getting him to help. I don't even know where we'd find him. Didn't he vanish after the battle at Red Mountain?"

"Yes. It will be difficult to track him down, but I'm sure he would be able to help." Mossanon said, crossing his arms. "Where would someone in his position go?"

"I know where he is." Miles stated. He looked up at them, his face still pale. "Gnaar Mok."

---

The Dunmer scowled at the trio sitting across from him, ragged white hair hanging over his face. "A glowing, floating skull imbued with some kind of enchantment is making people disappear." He summarized, watching their expressions.

Ruby nodded.

"That's the worst story I've ever heard." He waved a hand dismissively. "I appreciate you coming to visit, but if it's just to spout nonsense, try a tavern."

"It seems absurd, I admit, but we're not making it up." Mossanon stated. "We need a magicka specialist in this situation, and apparently that's you."

"Netchshit. I'll buy Nem, Schimmel and Barbarius going missing, as bright as they seemed. Maybe even Trelana. Edwinna, however, is fairly intelligent for a Breton. She wouldn't get caught up in something like that."

Ruby glared at him. "You've gone back to being a jerk, I see."

"Please, Master Razelus." Miles said. "We need your help. I keep remembering Balmora, how it was probably only stopped because you were brought into the search. If this is anything like that..."

"I only joined in that chaos because my Brother was in trouble, you know that." Razelus muttered, crossing his arms. "I have better things to do than run off on some foolish errand like this."

"How dare you..." Ruby slammed her fist on the table between them. "How DARE you call helping your old allies a foolish errand! There's no telling what Schimmel and the others could be going through right now!"

Razelus scowled at her. "If you aren't making up what you saw, I'd say they're not going through much of anything at this point apart from the beginning of decomposition."

"Fetcher!" Ruby rose, the chair she had been sitting on falling over with a clatter. "They are NOT dead! I refuse to accept that!"

"Then you are a fool."

"You're one to talk, moping around here and not doing a thing. And don't give me that 'better things to do' crap, I asked around, you've rarely left this house for the past three months." She snapped. "Now you're coming with us even if I have to break this table over your head and drag you to Ald-Ruhn!"

"She'd do it too, trust me. I grew up with her." Mossanon said.

Razelus scowled, keeping silent for a few moments as he thought it over. "You know, I'd ask why you came to me instead of the higher-ranked members of the Mages' Guild, but since they made someone like Trebonius an Archmage, I can understand why you'd have no faith in them. I certainly can't respect an organization with someone like him in charge." He grumbled, standing up and turning to one of the crates in the corner. "Give me twenty minutes to get ready, I'll meet you at the boat."

Miles grinned. "You're going to help?"

"Knowing the Mages' Guild, and if on the slight chance the people that went missing are still alive, I'm the best bet on finding them." Razelus pulled a robe from the crate, examined it briefly and tossed it aside. "Besides, Edwinna's one of the few people that actually give me hope for the future of the Mages' Guild. I'd prefer she didn't die."

---

Razelus sighed, staring at the skull. "This reminded you of Balmora? Come now, I taught you better than that, Miles." He said, opening the bag on his belt and rummaging through the contents.

"You mean it's not the same?" The Breton asked, standing to the side of the ash pit while Ruby and Mossanon stood near the door and out of his way, where he had told them to go.

"Slightly, perhaps. The enchantment is triggered on touch, but the ones back then were simple. Each piece only did one thing... this has multiple enchantments." He explained, taking a pair of gloves that shimmered with enchantment and pulling them on. "It's also much more powerful. They needed direct contact with someone's skin to work, plain cloth wouldn't stop this from getting to you. Luckily I made these gloves shortly after that job." He grabbed the skull out of the air and peered into the eye socket.

"What sort of enchantments?" Mossanon asked.

"Well, the obvious ones are levitation and light, which keep it floating and glowing. The others... they're a bit mixed. It's difficult to say exactly what they do, but some could cause harm and I do sense a teleportation spell of some kind." He stuck a finger in the socket, feeling around and frowning.

Ruby tapped her foot impatiently. "Tell us what matters, are they still alive or not?"

"I can't say for certain right now, but if I had to guess..." Razelus turned, shaking his head. ...it appears very unlikely that anyone touching this would live through the experience."


End file.
